Hammons Field is a minor league ballpark in downtown Springfield, Missouri, with a capacity of 7,986 plus approximately 2,500 general admission seating. The facility, funded entirely by local businessman, hotel mogul and benefactor John Q. Hammons, is the centerpiece of the midtown development project, Jordan Valley Park, on the corner of Sherman Avenue and Trafficway Boulevard. Completed in April 2004, it is home to the Springfield Cardinals, the Double-A Texas League affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals as well as the Missouri State University Bears.

Hammons built the ballpark before he had a minor league team secured to play in the stadium, though he steadfastly assured local residents it would be the Double-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals. He was ultimately able to persuade the Cardinals to purchase the El Paso Diablos franchise of the Texas League from the Brett Bros. and relocate it to Springfield. They became the Springfield Cardinals soon thereafter when the parent club ended its brief two-year affiliation with the Tennessee Smokies of the Southern League.

Jeremiah Wilson "Jay" Nixon (born February 13, 1956) is the 55th and current Governor of the U.S. state of Missouri. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as Missouri's Attorney General before his election in 2008.

Nixon is a lifelong resident of De Soto, a suburb of St. Louis, where he was born. His mother, Betty Lea (née Willson), was a teacher and president of the local school board, and his father, Jeremiah "Jerry" Nixon, served as the city's mayor. One of his paternal great-great-grandfathers was the brother of Democratic U.S. Senator Benjamin F. Jonas, of Louisiana. He graduated from the University of Missouri in 1978, later earning a law degree from the same institution.

After a period of private practice in his hometown, he was elected to the Missouri Senate from a district in Jefferson County, serving for three terms.

He made his first bid for statewide office in 1988, an unsuccessful effort to oust incumbent U.S. Senator John Danforth. Nixon only won 32% of the vote compared to Danforth's 68%--at the time, the most lopsided defeat a Democrat had suffered in a statewide race in Missouri history.